The day Lexington became "Southwest Amity"
Hello, Islanders!
It was billed – and rightly so – as one of the best fan conventions in the country. What it was, to many JAWS fans, was a rare gathering of some of the film’s most popular actors in one place. I’m talking about the 15th Annual ScareFest Conventiion, which was held last month in Lexington, Kentucky.
"His career over, Brody turned to donuts to ease his pain."
I am eternally blessed that, because of my writings, I have been able to meet several of the cast and crew members from both JAWS and JAWS 2. I am even more blessed that, over the past two decades, I have been able to call a lot of these people my friends. Even so, anytime I attend an event where JAWSroyalty is in attendance, I can’t help but anticipate saying hello, almost as if I’m meeting them for the first time.
While various cast and crew members make the rounds of such shows, it is rare to have four JAWS alumni in the same place at the same time (for the record, the largest gathering of JAWS – series talent I’ve attended was the July 2017 Hollywood Show in Los Angeles. The roster that week: Richard Dreyfuss, Carl Gottlieb, Joe Alves, Roy Arbogast, Ted Grossman, Billy Van Zandt, Martha Swatek, Tom Dunlop, Ben Marley and a young author who was grateful to anyone that bought a book. Quite a guest list. The lineup at ScareFest featured Richard Dreyfuss, Jeffrey Kramer, Jeffrey Voorhees and Susan Backlinie. Hooper, Hendricks, Alex Kintner and Chrissie Watkins. Wow!
By hanging out at their tables, I was able to marvel at how many fans had come from literally all over the world just to meet these four people. In the group of fans I hung out with for the weekend, there were people from Wales, Alabama (by way of the U.K.), Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri (yours truly). Other fans I spoke with told me they had traveled hundreds of miles just for the opportunity to meet and greet the stars, get an autograph and possibly share a word or two.
The celebs were most receptive, taking the time to not only greet their fans but ask them questions. They also shared some great stories, including one that I had never heard and that I couldn’t wait to share with friends. I noticed that there were two photos on Susan Backlinie’s table that puzzled me. One was a photo of a young bear cub. The other was a Star Wars poster. Curious we asked Susan about the photos. She told us that it is her bear whose “voice” was recorded and used for Chewbacca’s growl in Star Wars. What??? I hadn’t been that surprised since I’d learned that June Foray, the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, can be heard in JAWS.
The storytelling continued when the JAWS panel was held, with the four stars fielding questions from the audience. Richard Dreyfuss had traveled to the show from New York City, where he had attended a performance of “The Shark is Broken” on Broadway. He was asked his thoughts about the show and, in typical Dreyfuss fashion, he did not pull any punches (he wasn’t happy).
As the weekend went on, I made sure to talk to almost everyone I could find wearing a JAWS t-shirt. Almost everyone I spoke with told me that they had come to the show for the express reason of meeting the JAWS cast. Nearly 50-years after the film’s release, the legend continues!
Words by Michael A Smith. Michael is co-author of Jaws 2: The Making Of The Hollywood Sequel. You can order the book by contacting Michael at OsFanMike@aol.com.
Images via Jane Jones Clark
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